What I'm Reading Now

Hard Call written by John McCain with Mark Salter, is an exploration of decisions made by influential people who had the power to change either political or cultural history.  Perhaps McCain has focused on what a book called “Profiles in Courage” did for John Kennedy’s reputation and has hoped to duplicate that positive spin for himself.  McClain and Salter do a credible job of a book that can be read as entertaining social history. Their premise is that there are six qualities usually present when the best decisions are made.  Awareness, timing, foresight, confidence, humility, and inspiration must be present to make a good decision.  Each discussion of a significant change in the world focuses on the presence of these factors, and accents how one or two qualities, present or not, takes the decision on to success or failure. 

At the very beginning of the book, McCain literally walked through one of the more consequential decisions he made in his life.  As a fighter pilot, he was familiar with what is called “situational awareness”.  This is the ability to fully evaluate everything that is happening to the plane and its surroundings.  On his last combat run in Vietnam, he admits his ego developed to a point where he felt he could mistakenly depend on luck. 

The events that led to the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel were a matter of timing.  Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel had each known so much violence and destruction both personally and in their country’s history.  They were each ready to attempt to secure a level of peace for their country.  Although they represented countries that had suffered so much, they were able to conceive of peace, not despite their history, but because of it.  The peace these two leaders created between Egypt and Israel has endured.  The time was right.

I thought the most historically interesting segment was the chapter about King Gillette and the invention of the safety razor.  I had no idea that the use of a straight razor was so difficult.  Infection from a slight nick in the skin was also much more dangerous in a time before antibiotic creams.  The success of this product depended on the ability to see the advantage of a safety razor and the progress of technology which enabled sharpening machines to produce a blade thin enough to be disposable.

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry is a historical thriller that features the restoration of the Romanov dynasty in post-Soviet Russia.  Miles Lord is an African-American lawyer working in Moscow for an Atlanta law firm representing the interests of Stefan Baklanov, a possible claimant to the tsarist throne.  Lord is suddenly a victim of a murder attempt, possibly by the Russian mafiya.  He has no idea why anyone would attempt to kill him.  He had been researching archival material about the Romanov family and had discovered a letter from Alexandra, the tsarina, which described a prophecy of Rasputin concerning the fate of the Romanov family.

Nicholas and Alexandra, the Romanov tsar and tsarina of Russia, and all their children were assassinated by the soviets during the revolution in 1918.  Their only son had been the victim of hemophilia, a bleeding disease that was untreatable at that time.  The only person who seemed to offer the family some hope was Rasputin, an uneducated monk.  The influence which Rasputin had over the imperial family disgusted the aristocracy and he was assassinated by Youssoupov, a cousin of the imperial family.  Miles Lord’s job is to thoroughly investigate Baklanov, a distantly related Romanov, to make sure there are no negative blots on his claim.  There are wheels within wheels, so Miles has no idea who is promoting Baklanov’s claim.  Communism has been a failure and the Russian people are ready for an imperial restoration.  A Tsarist Commission has been appointed to select a new tsar and Baklanov is a strong candidate.  The mandated check and balance is that all the seventeen commissioners must agree on a choice. The commission requires that the successful claimant must meet several criteria of the laws of tsarist succession.  Any pretender must be male, as long as there is an eligible male.  He must be Orthodox, his mother and wife must have been Orthodox.  Any marriage must be to a woman of equal rank from a ruling house.

As Lord crosses Russia searching for documentation about any of the tsarist family who may have survived the assassination, he is joined by Akilina Petrov, an acrobat with the Moscow Circus.  The novel is an absorbing mix of genuine Russian history and the supposition that direct descendants of the Tsar may still be alive.  Even Faberge Easter Eggs provide clues.  If you have never heard of these eggs before, I think you will research them after you read this novel.